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I was needing an escape from New Hampshire during my visit up there to visit family for the holidays, so I booked a hotel and some restaurant reservations in Boston.

The southeasterly view from my window at the Westin Boston Waterfront Hotel.

The first stop for me was Drink. I had hit this fantastic, top-rated cocktail bar back in 2011 after a previous overseas tour (see here and here), and wanted to experience them again.

I started by asking for something with Green Chartreuse (a favorite of mine). I was started off with a classic – The Last Word – with gin, lime juice, Maraschino liqueur, and Green Chartreuse. Along with that, I had the very tasty (albeit tricky-to-eat) Sirloin Carpaccio.

Sirloin Carpaccio. You have to pick it up to eat it, and it’s too big for one bite. I had some issues and was probably embarassing myself as I ate it, but it was delicious.

The Last Word.

I followed The Last Word up with a Bijou (gin, Green Chartreuse, a sweet vermouth, and orange bitters) which provided more of the complex flavors of the Chartreuse.

Bijou.

To change things up, I asked for something with kümmel (previously mentioned here), an old, but hard-to-find liqueur which tastes of carraway, cumin, and fennel. What I got was The Maiden’s Choice, which consisted of Plymouth Gin, dry vermouth, and kümmel. This cocktail is great for showcasing the interesting flavors of the kümmel, although it’s a flavor that is probably an acquired taste. Fortunately, I like it.

The Maiden’s Choice.

The mixologists over at Drink have a thing for showmanship as well. As I was enjoying my beverages, I watched them playing with fire.

Yep, that’s fire he’s pouring right there.

I met up with some D.C. expatriates at the bar who endorsed Mockingbird Hill [Twitter/Facebook], the new Derek Brown sherry bar in Washington that I’m going to have to hit when I’m back in town. A mixologist at Drink also recommended it.

After taking a short break after Drink (their drinks don’t want for alcohol content), I headed over to Empire Restaurant and Lounge for dinner. Sporting a nightclub atmosphere (see – “Lounge”), I wasn’t sure what to expect the food to be like, although I’d seen high reviews for the joint. I was happy to discover that their food program (namely the sushi, which was what I stuck to) was excellent. Besides running Empire, Big Night Entertainment Group runs GEM, which has also received plaudits for their food.

I started off with the Hot Night in Bangkok (Avion Silver Tequila, plum infused sake, passion fruit, and Sriracha sauce), which provided a combination of sweet and spicy flavors. It went well with the Sushi Cupcakes (broiled Maine lobster, spicy garlic butter, crispy pressed sushi rice, and marinated uni) of which I considered getting a second order.

My view of the Empire kitchen.

The Sriracha goodness that is the Hot Night in Bangkok.

Sushi Cupcakes.

Next up – the Hamachi Tartare Roll (with avocado, gobo [burdock root], cucumber, topped with spicy yellowtail tartare, and served in a ginger sauce) the fresh taste of the tartare went great with the ginger.

Also in this round – and one reason why I picked this location for dinner – was the ‘Fish & Chips’ Roll (with tempura cod, malt vinegar tartar sauce, and yukon potato chips). I’m a big fan of the Fish and Chips Roll over at SEI in D.C., hence my interest in this menu item. The Empire version adds in more of a vinegar flavor, which reminded me even more of the flavors you’d experience in a traditional fish and chips basket.

Closing out the evening, I made a stop over at Eastern Standard near Kenmore Square, and started off with a great Old Cuban (rum, lime juice, simple syrup, bitters, sparkling wine float, mint).

Old Cuban.

Eastern Standard also likes their sherries, as evidenced by the five sherry cocktails on their drink menu. Asking for my bartender’s favorite, I got The Veil of Sanlúcar (La Gitana Manzanilla Sherry, chamomile mezcal, agave nectar, and bitters) – a great smokey cocktail.

The Veil of Sanlúcar. Perfect way to finish the evening.

I’ll be back in the Boston-area every year around the holidays, and I’ll be making it a point to hit some new places every time. If you’ve got any suggestions, please let me know!

Shook all but the bitters with ice. Double strained into a glass. I think I’d like this better with a little less absinthe, although it grew on me…anise taste at the front, finishes with the strawberry.

Muddled the strawberry simple syrup and the peppercorns, then added the rest of the ingredients and shook over ice. The Fresa Catrina was tasty…the pepper and the sweetness went really well together.

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King Vittorio’s Cobbler

2 oz. Averna Amaro3/4 oz. lemon juice3/4 oz. strawberry simple syrup

Shook all over ice, double strained into a glass. The strawberries mellowed out the bitterness of the Averna (which is already relatively mellow as far as Italian bitter liqueurs go). I liked this one. Simple and tasty.

Fuego Cocina y Tequileria is a new Mexican restaurant located where Harry’s Tap Room used to reside in Clarendon. I dropped by there the other night to meet some folks for a birthday party, but after checking out their menu, I thought I should get some dinner there first.

First off, they’ve got some flavorful guacamole.

Some good, flavorful guac.

I went for three orders of soft corn tortilla tacos each ($7 / order of two). The tacos at Fuego come with three salsas – rojo, habanero, and salsa verde – which went well with all the tacos I tried.

Like this:

I had a few people mention Mintwood Place in Adams Morgan as a place I needed to try, so on Tuesday I made that happen.

First off, I loved the menu. Great nibbles (smaller appetizers), regular appetizers, entrees, and drinks. My biggest problem was narrowing down what I could realistically consume in one sitting.

The shishito peppers and and escargot hush puppies.

I kept things at two nibbles (blistered shishito peppers and escargot hush puppies), and two appetizers (steak tartare with spuds and goat cheese and beet mountain pie) to start off. All were good…the peppers were subtle (although I found the provided hush puppies sauce also went well with them), and the other dishes were quite flavorful and creative.

The duck breast “au poivre” with minute sauerkraut, which I ordered for my entree, was excellent. Well-prepared duck paired well with the pepper sauce and bed of sauerkraut.

Duck “au poivre” with minute sauerkraut.

Good desserts – a classic brownie sundae (with a super-moist brownie) topped with sprinkles, and a Baked Alaska flambé closed out the evening.

Oh look, my dessert is on fire.

The cocktail menu is also very creative. The Smokin’ on the Bayou (Benevá Mezcal Añjeo, Grapefruit Juice, Jack Rudy Tonic Syrup, Bitter Truth Creole Bitters) and Woodrow Wilson (Boomsma Genever “Gin”, Hum Liquor, Elderflower, Cava) were two that I tried out. The former had a subtle, smokey flavor that I’d credit to the mezcal, while the latter had a slight all-spiciness…I’m guessing that came from the Hum, which I’m not familiar with, and bills itself as a botanical spirit with a number of different ingredients.

The Smokin’ on the Bayou cocktail.

This particular dinner was pricy – besides the above, there was one additional entree and two additional cocktails – for a total of over $200 with tip. However, you’re getting what you pay for…everything was of excellent quality, and the tastes involved were exceptional.

Like this:

My friends hosted a cocktail party the other night in New Hampshire where I got to put some recipes (tried and true and a couple new ones) to the test. Sources for the recipes included Andres Aleman (Dragon’s Kiss), Gina Chersevani (Black White and Tiki, Beety Bastard), and The Passenger (Hot as Girl on Girl, Monk’s Mule, Obamacare Sling, Milton’s Stapler).

The menu isn’t fully correct – we made it up at the last minute – but it’s close.

We whipped up several different types of simple syrups that we hadn’t tested out before, including strawberry syrup (great stuff – see Andres Aleman’s recipe for that one here), mint, cinnamon/nutmeg (really good – I think I used one large stick of cinnamon and a few dashes of nutmeg, then strained through cheese cloth), habanero, ginger (used my recipe from before, minus habaneros, and plus a little more ginger), and beet. I need to work out a good recipe for the beet syrup…mine was not beety enough for what I was gunning for.

Some simple syrups being prepped.

Most of these cocktails came out pretty well…I wouldn’t do the last item on the menu larger than a shooter though. Way too sweet. I’ll also need to tweak future menus a little bit..too little variation in the drinks (e.g. too many gin drinks, and too many with ginger beer – oops).

This was my first time being the bartender for a group this size (15-20). It was definitely an experience that I’ll need to repeat…I need more opportunities where speed is important and stress exists (I don’t get that mixing drinks at home, obviously). I’ve certainly got a ways to go to get out of novice status.

The Passenger’s version calls for white whiskey, lemon, and Yellow Chartreuse…I went off this and used the following:

2 oz Johnnie Walker Black

1 oz Yellow Chartreuse

1/4 oz lemon juice (and being out of lemons, I used the type from concentrate…meh.)

Shook the ingredients together with ice, strained over fresh ice in a rocks glass. Not bad. I’d say it’s better than a whisk(e)y sour.

Alex’s Sour #2…

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Bully Boy:

Ingredients for my take on the Bully Boy…

I was looking for some ideas for my brand new bottle of Fernet-Branca and came across this page. Naturally I had to try out the award winner for best Fernet cocktail, so I threw together the Bully Boy. From the site:

1oz bourbon

1/2oz Fernet Branca

1/2oz Canton ginger liqueur

1/2oz lemon juice

2t simple syrup

lemon peel, for garnish

Select dodecahedron shaped ice cubes out of your freezer (be very selective, the shape is important), and bash them with a baseball bat. Now shake it all up and strain into a chilled cocktail glass.

Of course, I am not yet fancy enough to have dodecahedron-shaped ice cubes (nor a bar baseball bat), so I did not follow some of the directions. I used Woodford Reserve bourbon, and swapped out the plain simple syrup for my homemade ginger-habanero variety. Because of the new flavors that my simple syrup lends to this drink (and because I didn’t have any real lemons…) I garnished this with an orange twist. This came out great…very tasty. You don’t get much of the medicinal taste associated with Fernet, but you can still tell it’s in there. This one was definitely a winner.

The Bully Boy. Good cocktail…

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Consolation Prize:

The ingredients for Consolation Prize…

I was looking for a good Chartreuse cocktail for this evening, and came across Last Frontier at both cocktail virgin slut and The Passenger. Using this as a base, I made the following:

2 oz Hendrick’s Gin

1.5 oz Yellow Chartreuse

3 dashes Angostura Bitters

Shake and bruise all ingredients with ice, then strain into a martini glass (keep small ice shards) and garnish with orange peel.

The Passenger’s version called for unknown proportions of Tanqueray, Green Chartreuse, and (unknown) bitters, while cocktail virgin slut called for 3 parts Beefeater, 1 part Green Chartreuse, and lemon oil.

I blew an interview earlier in the day, so I’m naming this one Consolation Prize. Cheers.